Rating: 
Summary: A great book with an interesting story and characters
Review: Farland combines classic fantasy elements with an interesting scenario. The book is thrilling and the attack of the reavers is one of the best parts in the whole book. I think that Farland's epic novels possess the potential to beat classic masterpieces like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.
Rating:
Summary: Prepare to lose yourself ... an excellent, fun read!
Review: Before buying this book, make sure you set aside enough time to read it straight through. This is one of those rare books that you won't want to put down. The writing isn't perfect, but I promise you will lose yourself in the story. And when it's finally over, you'll rush out looking for the next one. I am impressed with the concept and story of the book.... I thought no one would replace Robin Hobb as my favorite writer, and now I'm not sure. I can tell you that I will continue to read both Hobb's and Farland's book and look forward to them with great anticipation. I highly recommend them!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Runelords : Book 2
Review: The ideas are fantastic. The plot is superb. I would give this 5 stars if the writing were improved. Some parts of the book tend to drag as the author seems to like long-winded explanations.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome, Stunning, Great, Perplexing, Satisfying, and unique
Review: This book, was completely awesome. And I am not being biased. There were many situations that drew me in to a great neather world. I loved the book, more than I loved life. I even quit my job over the book, by refusing to get off my butt to go to work, because I could not put the book down, is this suitable for a lawsuit
Rating:
Summary: Meandering
Review: While Farland's latest work is no boring read, there are still many problems that distract the reader. First and foremost was the entire beginning of the book, I felt as if I had missed an entire section in the previous book. An ancient Duskin city is mentionned, and we are told that are heros visited it and killed reavers, however the action is never described, not even by other characters. The other major issue is that of the plot. As yet Fraland does not seem to have developped a clear direction of where he's going, we still don't know what the Earth King's eventual goal is, and it seems he doesn't either!However, despite this the bookis an interesting read, and Farland's ideas shine through, the re-apparition of the wylde is very interesting, as is the introduction of the skyrider. The battle of Carris is done well, not too much dwelling on the actual fighting, and he has it end before it becomes annoying (a remarkable feat in fantasy!), despite this though there are some loose ends flapping in the wind. What happened to the world-worm?? I think that the bvook suffered from an over-zealous editor than a negligent Farland, but the book maintains the series at an interesting level. A good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the worst I have ever read.
Review: I have read the first two books in this series and will stop while I can still it more than one star. The problem with the books is the basic premise. Earth and water are good and the saviors of man kind, fire and air are bad and seek to destroy man kind. How do you reason this out? It makes no sense. Further, I do not understand why the author sets up such an interesting gimmik (the whole endowment share) and immediately condems it. Whether the basic idea is good or evil, real people who lived with this type of thing for thousands of years would not suddenly find it reprehensible (as the main characters do). Also, if the main characters find such a system repulsive, why continue to indulge in it? The book makes sense on a superficial level, but does not hold up under greater scrutiny. It is hard to suspend your disbelief when you can not accept the basic human choices made by the characters. Overall, I would say this series is mediocre at best and that if you are new to fantasy then don't waste your time here but seek out better books.
Rating:
Summary: Not the worst I have ever read.
Review: I have read the first two books in this series and will stop while I can still give the series more than one star. The problem with the books is the basic premise. Earth and water are good and the saviors of man kind, fire and air are bad and seek to destroy man kind. How do you reason this out? It makes no sense. Further, I do not understand why the author sets up such an interesting gimmik (the whole endowment share) and immediately condems it. Whether the basic idea is good or evil, real people who lived with this type of thing for thousands of years would not suddenly find it reprehensible (as the main characters do). Also, if the main characters find such a system repulsive, why continue to indulge in it? The book makes sense on a superficial level, but does not hold up under greater scrutiny. It is hard to suspend your disbelief when you can not accept the basic human choices made by the characters. Overall, I would say this series is mediocre at best and that if you are new to fantasy then don't waste your time here but seek out better books.
Rating:
Summary: Pascifism makes for poor bedfellow
Review: Those of you who were amazed by the first book, Runelords, with its fast paced storyline and the intricate Rune endowment system, may very well be disappointed by this book or atleast part of it. The plots that were left open from the Runelords quickly disappear in this book. I was excited to learn more about Dylan Hammer, the role that the Days play, and an epic confrontation between Raj Ahten and Gaborn. All of this is quickly dashed away as Farland struggles to create a coherent story about the Reavers, a wylde, and some boring background characters.
The Botherhood of the Wolf(BotW) fails to impress in other areas too. If Runelords lacked detail in the character development and the setting, BotW is completly void of it. Try to picture Gaborn, Iome, Borenson, Binnesman or any other of the main chareacters and I bet you will have a really difficult time. Raj Ahten is the only character that is fairly easy to conjure an image of since the author has gone to great lengths to describe the effects that so many endowments have had on him. Without proper character development it is hard to have an sympathy for their cause. In addition, Farland has gone to great lengths to desribe Raj Ahten and the people of Indhopal as Arabic, wearing arabic clothes, and living in the desert. It is a cheap ploy by Farland to try to create antipathy towards the antagonist of the story, by using typical American sentiments towards Arabics. Whether you agree or disagree with his sentiments, Farland should be ashamed to treat his readers in such a condescending way. Before I get to the few good parts of the story I have one major question that Farland has failed to answer and even tries to dodge in BotW. Why doesn't Gaborn choose his Days. Gaborn can read peoples minds, past and present. Gaborn wants the Days help, the Days says, "Why don't you choose me?", Gaborn says he is thinking about, later on Gaborn needs information that the days can provide, but the Days says he cannot answer questions, here merely transcribes history. Why did Gaborn not read his mind? As I start to read Wizardborn, if in fact, Gaborn has an ahha! moment where the light suddenly turns on and he decides to read his Days's mind I will slam the book shut on this series. Now on to the few good parts of the book. As incoherent and boring as the first 200+ pages of the book were the last 200 pages drew me in. Why? Farland started to do what he does best by bring all the storylines together towards an epic battle. While characters and locations often lack details, his battles are absolutely amazing, even if it does involve the completly unneccesary of addition of Reavers to the storyline. Farland has excellent one on one combat and large scale battles littered throughout the last part of the book and it really saved this book from being an utter disappointment. I have high hopes that Wizardborn will forge ahead with the strong ending to BotW. Score 6.5 out of 10. Finally for the nitwit that wrote this:
"The Runelords heralds the arrival of a serious contender for the Jordan crown." How can you say this, it really is like comparing apples and oranges. It is definetly a high compliment, but Jordan is the detail king of sci-fi, going to absurd lengths to describe the characters and setting, much like Tolkein, while Farland is a very fast paced read with strong points in action oriented storytelling, kind of like Anne McCaffrey. Both, Farland and Jordan are great authors but the series themselves are not in contention with one another.
Rating:
Summary: Good, not Great but held my interest.
Review: I really enjoyed the first book, Runelords: Sum of All Men, and I couldn't wait to read this book. I confess i struggled through some of the book, but about 250 pages from the end this book picks up tons of steam, the Reavers come out of the ground and all heck breaks loose. I thought the whole battle between the Reavers and Castle Carris was awesome, and the fight scenes reminded my a lot of Salvatore and his Forgotten Realms books. You won't be disappointed with this second book in the series. I'll definitely read Wizardborn (I've already bought it and it's sitting on my nightstand), but I'm going to read a couple other things first and then revisit the world of the Runelords and the Earth King.
Rating:
Summary: All Hail the Earth King
Review: Fleeing with the shattered remnants of his army and vowing to fight another day Garbon Val Oden moves north. The new earth king knows that his only chance lies in gathering more allies for his cause. Raji Altman has not been idle during this time either and continues his war against the free peoples of the world in his quest to become "The Sum of All Men". The book is wonderful but I do have two issues 1. I feel that this series shows promise if the author could just stop shifting between action and narration in such a haphazard way this book could have been great. 2. Does the author want to make Raj Altman a bad guy or a good guy? He can never seem to make up his mind. I personally like that about this character one minute he is doing something humane and decent the next he flies off the wall and slaughters an entire village. It is an aspect of the character that makes no sense and I just want a little clarity. Overall-It was nice to see the main character learning to use his new abilites both to help his people and force Raj Aktman to unite agienste a common foe. Great book, get it if you enjoyed the first.
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